1. Kieslowski's "Colors" trilogy. It's three movies, one called "Blue", the next "Red", the next "White". They're basically meditations on the human condition by a Polish director, but while these may seem dull, they really aren't. Well acted, interesting, move along quickly, etc.

2. "Baraka". Not sure who directed it, but it's basically really great photography from around the world set to music.

3. "Run Lola Run". This has been around for a while (I think it was released in 1999), but if you haven't seen it it's great.

4. "After Life". It's a Japanese movie about people who, when they die, get to pick a moment of their lives to keep with them while the rest of their memories disappear.

5. It's not exactly an art flick, but I've been highly recommending to friends to see the movie "Donnie Darko". It's an american film about time travel, etc. By the way - don't pay attention to the box, it's been grossly mismarketed.

This film completely freaked my wife out. David Lynch is like licorice....love him or hate him.

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So true, so true. Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, The Straight Story (his most accessible movie, probably), Lost Highway (which I was a bit disappointed in) Mulholland Drive....those are all Lynch movies worth seeing. Some of them are incredibly weird and I've never really figured them out but that's art...you don't have to "figure it out" IMO....just sit back, take it in and enjoy it as art. The first Lynch movie that I ever saw that really intrigued me (aside from Dune...which was an adaptation so I don't really count it) was Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which I saw in high school. That movie totally freaked me out and confused me but I loved it. After that I went back and rented all the old episodes from Twin Peaks from my local video store. It made more sense after watching those but I still loved that movie even when I didn't understand it. I love the strange characters and the mixture of reality w/ fantasy. I also like how he occasionally tends to have an actor completely change characters mid-movie. He just took conceptions of what a movie is and trashed it. Anyway...that's my little Lynchian love-fest for the day. Only complaint is I wish he had less gratuitous sex and boobies in some of his movies. Same thing with Eyes Wide Shut(yes, I know that's Kubrick and not Lynch - just making a parallel). I thought it was a beautifully filmed movie though that really takes you on a trip!

I don't know exactly what you mean by "art" movies but:
"Dersu Uzala"... one of Akira Kurosawa's movies that isn't "Seven Samurai" is a departure from his previous violent epics. It tells the story of a Russian cartography expedition who meet up with a wanderer, and the friendship that forms between that wanderer and the group's captain. The film is absolutely beautiful and enjoyable on many levels. It's really a "stay in tonight and watch a movie" kind of movie.

Check out Peter Greenaway's films, like "Drowning by numbers", "Z00", "Draughtmans Contract", "The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover". I'm not a huge fan myself, but I know many who are, and his films are definitely different. Visually superb.

The Red Violin makes it quite clear that, while music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, it can also stir up a lot of passions as well. Employing a looping timeline, The Red Violin explores five stories from the past and present in order to illuminate the qualities that give music its geographic and temporal transcendence.

Three centuries in the life of the red violin are tied together by the prognostications of a 17th century tarot card reader, who believes she is telling the future of the wife of the violin's creator Niccoli Bussotti. As each card falls, we are swept away on a sea of stories full of love, sorrow and desire. While this epic tale is courageously built around a musical instrument, it is how the violin affects the individuals possessing it that gives the film its potency. From the child prodigy in the 18th century Austrian monastery to the contemporary story (set in Montreal) of appraisers and musicians seeking to own the cherished Bussotti masterpiece, each story is intriguing. Interestingly, as we move forward in time and the stories lose some of the romance that such distance allows, the characters' interactions with the violin become steadily less compelling. Sam Jackson does a fine job, but his character's contemporary struggle to determine the authenticity of the Red Violin pales by comparison to the earlier tales set in Vienna and Oxford.

The Red Violin offers some interesting messages about the universality of the language of music, as well as the primordial chord that it strikes in our very essence. The cinematography and sets are sumptuous, and the actors through the eras do very credible jobs of playing the magical violin. Lastly, the secret of the red violin's colour turns out to be an apt symbol for the level of commitment that true musical devotion demands.

1) The Sheltering Sky. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0100594
Develops very slowly, but is a study of how couples can grow apart, yet still love each other. THE MOST convincing dying sceen I've yet to see on the screen. If you're having serious problems with your better half this film might not be for you. Makes you think of how frail and precious life is.

2) Boxing Helena. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0106471/
Successful surgeon can't get his own love life in order. Not loved as a child: Strict disciplinarian father - mother usually had someone other than daddy in her bed. Can not stop chasing rejection. Directed by Jennifer Lynch - Yes, David is her father.
The apple does not fall far from the tree with this one.

Another great one is Pi. Kind of a mindblower but I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed City of Lost Children. Another newer one that was kind of arty was Lost in Translation. My wife and her friend thought it was somewhat boring in pointless but I enjoyed it as art. I really liked the style of the film and of course it had its funny moments too.

you guys have got it pretty much coverd as far as "art Films" go,Peter Greenaway's film "Prospero's Book" takes the cake, Here are some not so arty but cool nontheless, that I liked and I feel are worth checking out.

Buffalo 66
"Chiselled-face Vincent Gallo writes, directs, and creates the score of his new film, Buffalo 66, where he stars as Billie Brown. Upon his release from prison and while desperately looking for a restroom and a pay phone from which to call his parents, Billie Brown meets Layla (Christina Ricci), a voluptuous teenager, whom he decides to kidnap on the spur of the moment (as if his new freedom has instantly ignited the old criminal drive). "

Diva,
a very cool French film 1981. Crime / Thriller.

Caravaggio(1986)
a fictional film about the painter Caravaggio

Dream with the Fishes:
"is a comedy about depression, suicide, terminal illness, and self-mutilation. The usual. Ok, so maybe director and co-writer Finn Taylor has, shall we say, a skewed way of looking at the world, but his peculiarities result in one of the more successful black comedies of late."

Anything by Jim Jarmusch but Down By Law was his best IMO

Endless Summer, Winged Migration, Spanking the Monkey, Slackers, A good Baby and way to many more to list...